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Blackadder star attacks Gove over WWI criticism

Michael Gove said programmes like Blackadder were used to push "myths" and "denigrate virtues such as patriotism, honour and courage". Credit: Martin Keene/PA Archive

Blackadder star Sir Tony Robinson has accused Michael Gove of effectively "slagging off teachers" after the Education Secretary claimed the classic comedy was used to present a "left-wing academic" interpretation of the First World War.

Sir Tony, who starred as Baldrick in the BBC show, said Mr Gove had made a "very silly mistake" to think that the final series of the show, which is set in the war's trenches, was being used to mislead those learning about the conflict.

"It's not that Blackadder teaches children the First World War," Sir Tony told the Sky News Murnaghan programme.

He said the episodes were "simply another teaching tool" used by "imaginative teachers" alongside visits to the conflict's battlefields and the esteemed poetry of its soldiers.